{"id":5112,"date":"2022-04-08T12:06:43","date_gmt":"2022-04-08T12:06:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amnesty-international-says-botswanas-freedoms-regressed-under-covid-19"},"modified":"2022-04-08T16:31:08","modified_gmt":"2022-04-08T16:31:08","slug":"amnesty-international-says-botswanas-freedoms-regressed-under-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amnesty-international-says-botswanas-freedoms-regressed-under-covid-19","title":{"rendered":"Amnesty International says Botswana\u2019s freedoms regressed under Covid-19"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Botswana. <\/strong><\/span><b>Botswana recorded a surge in suppression of freedom of expression as well as increasing rates of gender-based violence at the height of Covid-19, Amnesty International said in a new report.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The international human rights watchdog noted that, \u201cState of emergency legislation introduced in response to Covid-19 was extended twice, restricting the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The organisation also found that: \u201cWomen and girls suffered increasing rates of gender-based violence,\u201d adding that, \u201cAsylum rights were restricted.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The report says, in April, the president extended the state of public emergency for the second time since its introduction in April 2020.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRegulations under the Emergency Powers Act (EPA), also introduced in 2020, continued to prohibit the right to strike, and carried a maximum five-year prison sentence or a BWP100,553(about US$9,250) fine for anyone publishing information with \u201cthe intention to deceive\u201d the public about Covid-19,\u201d the report says.<\/p>\n<p>The report says in February the state amended the charge sheet of opposition spokesperson Justice Motlhabane and journalists Letsogile Barupi and Oratile Dikologang, who were arrested, detained and charged in April 2020 for allegedly publishing false information aboutCovid-19 on Facebook.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey faced two counts of publishing \u201cwith the intention to deceive\u201d under the EPA regulations, one count of \u201cpublication of alarming statements\u201d under the penal code, and one count of \u201coffensive electronic communication\u201d under the cybercrime act.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to the report, in September, Reverend Thuso Tiego was arrested under the Public Order Act after holding a demonstration calling for the president\u2019s resignation. Several others were arrested when they demanded his release.<\/p>\n<p>Regarding Gender Based Violence, the report noted that in April, the Botswana GBV Prevention and Support Centre (a local NGO) reported an increase in violence against women and girls during the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>Also touching on refugees and migrants rights, the report says, right to asylum continued to be severely limited. Botswana hosted fewer refugees and asylum seekers than most countries in Africa (674 refugees and 58 asylum seekers as of September.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn April, UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, raised concerns after the authorities deported 57 Zimbabwean refugees who had lived in Botswana since 2008. The refugees failed to register for voluntary repatriation, which led to their forced removal in March,\u201d the report says.<\/p>\n<p>The report also says in November, the Court of Appeal upheld a High Court judgment that declared a law criminalizing consensual same-sex sexual relations unconstitutional.<\/p>\n<p>With regard to the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the report says, there was a third wave of Covid-19 infections during July and August. At its peak, Botswana had a higher percentage rate of infection than any other country in Africa, with 668 positive cases per 100,000 people (in a population of 2.3 million).<\/p>\n<p>On environmental degradation, the report says in August, UNESCO\u2019s World Heritage Committee registered its concern about oil exploration licences being granted in environmentally sensitive areas in the Okavango River basin to Canadian-based mining company ReconAfrica.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Committee urged the government to ensure that any further steps to develop the oil project be \u201csubject to rigorous and critical prior review, including a thorough environmental impact assessment that corresponds to international standards,\u201d says the report.<\/p>\n<p>It says there were concerns that such projects would have an adverse effect on Indigenous peoples living in the area.<\/p>\n<p>The report observes that Botswana was among a minority of Southern African countries to impose the death penalty.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\">Botswana<\/a> Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/\">Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Botswana. Botswana recorded a surge in suppression of freedom of expression as well as increasing rates of gender-based violence at the height of Covid-19, Amnesty International said in a new report. The international human rights watchdog noted that, \u201cState of emergency legislation introduced in response to Covid-19 was extended twice, restricting the rights [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":5111,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,8,13,16],"tags":[233,237,234],"class_list":["post-5112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","category-social","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-botswana","tag-botswana"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Amnesty International says Botswana\u2019s freedoms regressed under Covid-19 - Botswana<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Botswana recorded a surge in suppression of freedom of expression as well as increasing rates of gender-based violenc ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amnesty-international-says-botswanas-freedoms-regressed-under-covid-19\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Amnesty International says Botswana\u2019s freedoms regressed under Covid-19\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Botswana recorded a surge in suppression of freedom of expression as well as increasing rates of gender-based violenc ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amnesty-international-says-botswanas-freedoms-regressed-under-covid-19\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Botswana\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-04-08T12:06:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-04-08T16:31:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2022\/04\/img-6250633203adf.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"696\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"397\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amnesty-international-says-botswanas-freedoms-regressed-under-covid-19#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amnesty-international-says-botswanas-freedoms-regressed-under-covid-19\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Amnesty International says Botswana\u2019s freedoms regressed under Covid-19\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-04-08T12:06:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-08T16:31:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amnesty-international-says-botswanas-freedoms-regressed-under-covid-19\"},\"wordCount\":577,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amnesty-international-says-botswanas-freedoms-regressed-under-covid-19#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2022\/04\/img-6250633203adf.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Botswana\",\"Botswana\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"homepage-english\",\"Social\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amnesty-international-says-botswanas-freedoms-regressed-under-covid-19#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amnesty-international-says-botswanas-freedoms-regressed-under-covid-19\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amnesty-international-says-botswanas-freedoms-regressed-under-covid-19\",\"name\":\"Amnesty International says Botswana\u2019s freedoms regressed under Covid-19 - 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